Hey everyone and welcome to the dungeon! Back in late 2013 I came across a fighting game for PS3 called Aquapazza. Here's the benign game that brought me deep into collecting merch for a series it was only tangentially related to.

I'll caution you here and now, this is picture heavy and the pictures themselves are quite large at that.

Some of you may remember the name of the game from my prior Smorgasbord blog because that's where I first came across Chizuru Kashiwagi. Well, that game showed me another character I thought was absolutely awesome, Sasara Kusagawa. This is her listing from the instruction booklet (ironically right above Chizuru).

Note how next to her name it shows which game series she was from? I told myself that if we ever got a Dungeon Travelers game stateside, I'd have to purchase it!

Fastforwarding to autumn of 2015 brought us Dungeon Travelers: Royal Library and The Monster Seal. Hell, when I found out it was coming over, I headed to GameFAQs and outright asked if Sasara was either a playable character or a cameo in it. I was told she was a DLC character in Japan, so the odds of her inclusion in the same fashion was quite high. I was psyched!

Upon reaching level 30 in game she can class change from Paladin (which you'll see later in the blog) into Valkyrie! Among all the other returning characters from To Heart 2 Dungeon Travelers, many of whom were playable or cameos in Aquapazza, Valkyrie Sasara was the reason I wanted to experience Dungeon Travelers as much as I did. Her unique skill, Presidential Power, is tailor made to using a shielded Valkyrie as it raises Shield DEF by up to 25% at max!

As time went on, I began to collect the Japanese Strategy guides so I had maps, limited edition versions of the games for figures and screen cloths, the OVAs for the first game and even getting some more figures to help round out the collection. This was the result of about 5-6 months of collecting. Several of these items aren't listed on MFC and some I wasn't even sure where they came from until I started rummaging around the Aquaplus JP main site.

Before I go into the merchandise any further, here's another brief history lesson. While To Heart 2 Dungeon Travelers was the first mainstay release of the DT series, it was actually a port of another, Final Dragon Chronicle: Guilty Requiem. That game was initially on PC and had tons of nudity for gathering characters and sealing enemy monsters. TH2DT was the cleaned up PSP version of the game that could be sold in stores and on a Sony system. If you want to see what the PSP game was originally like, by all means, use Google and find out. I can assure you though, it is definitely NSFW!

Here we have the Limited Edition of the PSP version of To Heart 2 Dungeon Travelers. The big selling point besides the game was DT versions of Tamaki and Konami in Paladin and Priestess versions respectively. If you happened to get a preorder copy, you additionally got a Konami microfiber cleaning cloth. Furthermore, if you ordered the game from specific shops, you could get numerous other benefit items, the coolest of which was a Tamaki Samurai wallscroll (that I can't find anywhere...). You even get to see an ad for Aquapazza.

After the success of the game's cleaner release, they introduced all new characters and monsters in Dungeon Travelers 2. The limited edition included 2 CDs, playing cards, a PSP protective liner (the preorder bonus) and an artbook showing off both in game and rough draft art. Likewise, this too had many shop bonuses if you were getting it in Japan. The ad with this game shows some TH2DT merch that you could acquire.

Shortly following the release of each of the games are strategy guides from Enterbrain. They provide tons of information about combat strategy, statistics, detailed maps showing hidden walls, traps and monster closets and even a full gallery of all the CG images in the back. Even though I can't read nearly all of it, the maps alone made this an awesome purchase if I ever wanted to know that I completed a map 100%.

Since To Heart 2 Dungeon Travelers was now gaining more traction, Aquaplus released a pair of OVAs. The Limited Editions contained the episode on either Blu Ray or DVD with a bonus CD and an absolutely MASSIVE tapestry of Tamaki (Samurai) and Sasara (Paladin) in deteriorating armor. Seriously, at 175x50 CM, they could not even fit on the dining table when fully unfolded.

Somewhere amidst these releases was Aquapazza on PS3 in Japan which brought us some more stuff! While I didn't get the Japanese release, I did finally get a Nendoroid specifically for the Nendoroid! Yes people, I got the Sasara Valkyrie Nendoroid with a Petite Ma-ryan because Sasara. The Nendoroid seal has officially been broken and now I'm as screwed as the rest of y'all! But come on, it's Valkyrie Sasara, she was worth it! I keep her in a set pose imagining she is shouting RAGING SMASH! coming down with her halberd.

Strangely enough, DT2 was re-released on Vita BEFORE TH2DT. I managed to track down the preorder bonus protective vinyl, a gorgeous Grishna tapestry and I winded up with a Mefmera clear folder by complete luck. The new limited edition contained an Alisia cleaning cloth, a PS Vita cushion case and an acrylic stand. Both Grishna and Mefmera were special shop releases and Grishna was the coolest bonus of all. A new game brings with it a new advertisement and this one shows To Heart 2 DX Plus for PS3. I should like to further note that this release gave us an option to purchase all 19 original characters from the first game as well as Mio Hanesaki as a Spieler class making 20 as DLC. If you got the full pack of 20, you got bonus items of a double EXP accessory and increased equipment drop rate accessory. This would transfer to the worldwide releases and is how I got Sasara in my game! Speaking of which, here's some comparison pictures between the JP and ENG releases.

While both images are largely the same, Melvy's panties are covered up on the English cover with a small artwork shift. Similarly, this happens on the back of the case to show a little less cleavage from monsters.

There additionally was removal of VA messages to the players and alteration of 4 in game images, gameplay wise it is completely identical to the Japanese release, even if I don't agree with videogame censorship in general. In this case, I'd rather have a legal translation than none at all.

Porting To Heart 2 Dungeon Travelers to the Vita second doesn't necessarily make sense to me, but I suppose the sequel did well enough for a re-release. The preorder bonus here was a Tamaki Samurai strap and the limited edition had a new CD, a Konami strap, an artbook and a Konami tapestry. In terms of shop bonuses, the best one to me was a Paladin Sasara tapestry that I may get in the future. As with the previous games, this included an advertisement. However, this advertisement promoted DT2 for Vita and the DLC therefore being the most relevant ad of them all!

The re-release was the likely cause of new figures being made and when I saw the Magical Princess version of Manaka Komaki, I purchased her that very night! The sculpt on Manaka is awesome and Dwell nailed it in terms of bust and hips of the class rep. While that might seem impulsive to many of you, I did happen to use Manaka in DT2 and my plan for her was to become a Magical Princess. I felt it was her best outfit overall and I love it.

No doubt over the course of this blog you've seen 4 tapestries full of wrinkles and creases laid out on the table. The only way to fix such things with a hot iron! Sasara was severely against the idea, but I must press on! (Insert more terrible ironing puns here)

Here was the end result of ironing them all out and hanging them on the walls in my room. After Tamaki fell off the wall twice, I can highly advise using Command strips every 10 or so horizontal inches that you want to hang up. I legit looked over just now and watched Grishna flutter down to my bed since she was the only one not help up by Command strips. Son of a...

The last few pictures I have for you are where I managed to put all this merch besides hanging up the tapestries. The Astral Busters trio sits on an anime shelf below the Girls und Panzer tank, Manaka is set next to Rinko and the other Gundam Girls, Ma-ryan joins my other Nendoroid Petites and I propped up the acrylic stand at the top of the shelf where the rest of the boxes and stuff got Tetris'ed into place.

It's been quite the journey from playing Aquapazza a few years ago, subsequently getting Dungeon Travelers stateside and where I am today. Right now I'm waiting for the sequel to Dungeon Travelers 2, 2-2, which takes place as if you lost the story mode's final battle. I know you're tired of hearing me say it, but there is preorder bonuses from various shops again...

I firmly believe I got the best one here with Melvy (Sage) and Conette (Dancer) relaxing by the water. I don't think I have much if any room left on my walls, but for art like that, I'll make room! Happy travels and I hope you've enjoyed my story of Entering The Dungeon!

nammy (8 maand(en) geleden) #19136105All this fandom steming from one fighting game? :OYup! It was kind of random how it started, but once I knew she was able to be used in DT, I was sold. My original question dates back to almost two years and is still on GameFAQs here: www.gamefaqs.co...kin (8 maand(en) geleden) #19136787Damn that's a lot of merch and some dedication! Do you have a shrine in your place somewhere for all of this or is it scattered?Having a shrine would be neat, but I currently lack the space to do so. That and I'd wanna get more of both the TH2DT and DT2 figures if I did.victorviper (8 maand(en) geleden) #19137202That's one impressive loot!
I'm a little jealous of that gigantic Sasara tapestry.Thanks much! I was looking at your Sasara Nendoroid review before I started writing this all down last night. She was a pain to put together as yah said, but I'm a sucker for wings and armor. If you were interested in getting the OVAs, (and accompanying wallscrolls) you can still get them for as little as $35 NEW on Amazon. That's going for even less than what I paid for them in December!